Avatars Books

http://www.amazon.com/Alter-Ego-Avatars-Their-Creators/dp/1905712022/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202408065&sr=1-3

Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators, by Robbie Cooper, Tracy Spaight and Julian Dibbell (May 2007). Discusses the phenomenon of contemporary avatars, gives portraits of gamers and their digital images, graphically dramatizes the gaps between fantasy and reality, presents 70 images with their gamer's profiles. Includes a glossary of relevant terms.

I Avatar: Culture & Consequences

http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Culture-Consequences-Having-Second/dp/0321533399/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202409296&sr=1-16

I Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life, by Mark Stephen Meadows (January 2008). Discusses what an avatar is, why there are so many avatars, who is using avatars, avatars impact on our real lives or are they just video games, the fascinating possibilities avatars hold, and the examination of avatars through sociology, psychology, politics, history and art.

The Social Life of Avatars

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Life-Avatars-Ralph-Schroeder/dp/1852334614/ref=sr_1_37?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202410429&sr=1-37

The Social Life of Avatars, by Ralph Schroeder (January 2002). Discusses social interaction in virtual environments (key issues, common themes, and a framework for research), social conventions in computer-mediated communication, living digitally (embodiment in virtual worlds), the death and life in virtual worlds; community, design and terrorism in virtual worlds, building and deploying shared virtual environments, long-term uses of shared virtual environments, social influence within immersive virtual environments, meeting people virtually, collaboration in multi-model virtual worlds (comparing touch, text, voice and video), status differences in virtual environments and the social life of small graphical chat spaces.

Avatars at Work and Play

http://www.amazon.com/Avatars-Work-Play-Collaboration-Environments/dp/1402038836/ref=sr_1_51?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202411646&sr=1-51

Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments, by Ralph Schroeder and Ann-Sofie Axelesson (Ed) (March 2007). Discusses overlapping themes and intersecting research agendas, exploring the digital plasticity of avatars, investigating priorities of the creation of expressive avatars, analysis and visualization of social diffusion patterns in three-dimensional virtual worlds, technical and organizational design frameworks, analyzing fragments of collaboration in distributed immersive virtual environments, the impact of display system and embodiment on closely coupled collaboration between remote users, supporting group-work in shared virtual environments, consequences of playing violent video games in immersive virtual environments; motivations, emotional investment, relationships and problematic usage, virtual worlds as dynamic processes of social interaction, some lessons from online games for collaborative virtual environments, and player control and strategic innovation in the Sims outline.